AuthorTopic: Pirate and Pather Bases (Read 1904 times)

So, our Pirate and Luddic friends now spawn bases from which to harrass all the colonies we create.Okay. It's a decent source of entirely optional drama that gently encourages you to do something about it without being too obnoxious.

There's something which I've encountering which have been making things a bit less fun than they could be.

Base spawning.Whatever settings there are, the numbers are too big. These bases can, and do spawn an absolutely incredible distance from thier 'assigned' targets.

eg:The Pirates have decided that they want to be a nuisance and have started raiding shipping etc. giving all the colonies in this system (bottom right) a horrible -3 stability and -50% accessibility.They'll have to go.I've found where their base is located, and was not impressed. As you can see from the map below the distance from the pirate base to the targetted colony is approx 2/3 the width of the entire sector.

I took a fleet out to see what I could do about it, the journey was a pain in the behind with no clear path through the storms, with those same storms flirting you in every direction except the one you want to go.Annoying. The trip took approx 2000 fuel and 800 supplies with a fleet composed of mainly cruisers. (2x Dominator, 3x Falcon, 3x Heron, 1x Mora, 1x Drover, 1x Harbinger, 3x Wolf, 3x Colossus, 1x Prometheus)When I got there, I managed to clear some of the many pirate fleets, but not nearly enough to make any headway with the base spawning more. (aka - I got my face pushed in by a massive pile of trash ships.)So it looks like I'm going to need possibly multiple capital ships, plus support, plus lots of carriers with fighters to get this base to stop messing with my dudes. Yes, there are that many ships patrolling the system.The flight out was not fun at all, and I'm really not looking forward to dragging capitals (plus the extra ships to carry the extra supplies and fuel) through all that muck.

Why are these aggro bases spawning this far from the colonies they are 'attached' to?

Luddic path bases will target your planets as a priority regardless of range. Pirates usually spawn nearby but already existing distant base can target you as well. For me a biggest immersion breaking point - pathers will not affect closest high-tech planets and will target player even with lowest industry at max range. So they for some reason prefer to disrupt unknown small planet on the outskirts of sector instead of targeting for instance Sindria nearby. Also getting neutral with luddic path can help with station destruction as fleets near the station will depart after some time if you are not hostile.

I dragged 4 capitals all the way accross the sector, in what has got to be the most aggravating journey I have ever undertaken.Storms are now less damaging overall, but have aqcuired a deeply irritaing ability: They shove your fleet in a random direction. And that direction never seems to be anywhere close to the direction you actually want to travel in.On several occaisions on this trip I got clipped by a storm I thought I had cleared, and got pitched into a solid wall of other storms and scooted a non-trivial distance off course.I had made sure to take enough fuel and supplies to make the trip (1.2K supplies 5K fuel), but while the fuel was adequate the supplies ran low enough that I had to divert into the core to pick up more.

Storms really need their 'hitbox' cleaning up. Especially now they are are capable of being this obnoxious.Travelling, is by default the least interesting part of any game so trying to correct that is actually good.But I would much rather have travel be 'boring' than 'annoying'.

In the aftermath of the base 'removal', another rather annoying things was found.While trying to harvest the many debris fields and wrecks, I continually got blocked by tiny left over fleets (some of which were single ships) that were 'tracking' me. Even though they had no way to actually hurt my fleet, and would burn away at every opportunity.If a hostile fleet would run away from yours, it should not be able to stop you salvaging or surveying.

I've stopped trying to pilot through storms altogether. It is by far my least favorite part of the game. I just stock up on supplies and pay the extra as a "convenience tax" for plowing through them. I find the speed boost it gives you helpful as it ejects you quickly from the cloud. As long as youre not trying to thread the needle though those clouds, even being shunted in the general direction you're trying to go is fine.

This is why I have Solar Shielding on big ships when I do not have lots of money. I got an Onslaught fairly easily (thanks to spiked-up difficult midgame bounty), and I could not afford the supply cost (or the CR cut if too close to a big fight, since Onslaught was the backbone or trump card) if Onslaught got hit. I put Solar Shielding on it, and it became much more manageable if it got hit.

This is why I have Solar Shielding on big ships when I do not have lots of money. I got an Onslaught fairly easily (thanks to spiked-up difficult midgame bounty), and I could not afford the supply cost (or the CR cut if too close to a big fight, since Onslaught was the backbone or trump card) if Onslaught got hit. I put Solar Shielding on it, and it became much more manageable if it got hit.

I run the efficiency overhaul on the Onslaughts just to keep their costs down all around. They've got a generous amount of discretionary OP they can spend and still be quite effective.

If you don't want to fly all the way out there with a big fleet carefully, or less carefully, then another option is to set up a small pop-up colony nearby.

You can then set that colony as the designated production gathering point and build some heavy ships, which will be automatically shipped there. Fly out with a small fleet of your choice and pick up the heavies closer to the target. Optionally pull the base up afterwards.